Ryan Stephens Marketing

Apparently working on numerous consulting projects and finishing up your last semester of graduate school is not conducive to finding time to blog. For that, I want to apologize to my readers. I’m so gracious for all of you that read and comment on this blog, and I truly THANK YOU as you bare with me during this busy stage. I assure you I have some cool content planned for the future and look foward to sharing it with you.

In the meantime, here’s some great work from some people that I highly respect:

[Just a reminder: These are blogs that I enjoyed reading, for whatever reason. Perhaps they were valuable for me, merely entertaining, thought provoking, were about something I’m interested in (i.e. social media) or potentially something I thought my tribe would enjoy. As always, I would love feedback. Did you catch these posts during October? Did any of these resonate with you? What are some of your most recent favorite reads? Even better, what’s your favorite thing YOU wrote during October? Share it with me in the comments section.]

10 Prolific Bloggers Share Tips on Generating Conversation Blogs – Darren Rowse (ProBlogger)
The title is pretty self-explanatory, but if you’re like me and you’re looking for ways to have a more active comments section then why not get tips from guys like Leo Babauta, Liz Strauss, Jason Falls and other great conversational bloggers.

13 Tips on How to Have Great Conversations on Your Blog – Darren Rowse (Problogger)
Great conversation adds depth to your posts and builds community and reader loyalty. Chances are if you’re blogging you want both of these things, and Darren provides 13 tips that take you deeper into growing conversations (not just getting comments).

Social Media for Business – Who’s Doing it Well and How – Lidija Davis (ReadWriteWeb)
Even if you don’t read this post, click on the link and watch the great video showing disconnect between advertisers and customers. This post covers a lot of bases including how marketing is changing, discussions on companies that use the social web well, and then how you can get started.

Never Lose Alone, Never Win Alone – Dwayne Melancon (Joyful Jubliant Learning)
This is my first time featuring Dwayne on my “best of” lists, but I like finding great new content, I really appreciated both his story, complete with vivid explanations, and his takeways of what he has learned from his blunders. Great advice for those that work in/with teams!

Social Media is Difficult Like Intimacy – Rebecca Thorman (Modite)
If only Rebecca blogged more often (I know the feeling) because I usually love what she writes, and this post is spot on per usual. She discusses the notion that social media is intimate, but that you have to be in the space and it’s because companies are made up of people, not a blacktop of products. The discussion following the post is also great.

Tyler Durden’s 8 Rules of Innovation – Brian Clark (Lateral Action)
You don’t have to have seen Fight Club for this to be a valuable post, but if you have you’ll realize that this is brilliant stuff from Brian Clark. Apparently, Tyler Durden says a lot of things that apply directly to innovative action.

Pixelated – Your New Business Conference Starts Online Now – Mitch Joel (Twist Image)
Pixelated is a an online video mash-up inspired by Brian Eisenberg that is a full-day online conference all from the comfort of your own computer. This is Mitch Joel’s conference that will educate you and motivate you to think differently about your business. Featuring remarkable videos from people like Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, J.J. Abrams (creater of Lost), and one of my favorite speakers Benjamin Zander. Do any of these videos inspire you?

Is Effort a Myth – Seth Godin
Despite what popular media might lead you to believe effort isn’t a myth. Seth explains that effort is directly related to success, and the paradox of effort. At the end of the post, which will most certainly make you think, he provides a few keys to succeeding via effort.

People in the Real World – Chris Brogan
This is a friendly reminder that those of us in the social media space are way ahead of the game, and that the average person has no idea what we are talking about. Chris articulates why we should be the bridge that helps other communities ‘get’ social media. I agree, and as I’m currently experiencing, it’s a lot tougher than you would think.

25 Ways to Build Your Community – Chris Brogan
As your probably realize by now, Chris is phenomenal at providing tangible tips that we as bloggers can go out and put into practice. Many of these are pretty basic and great for a newbie, but there are a couple of hidden gems that even a grizzled blogging veteran might not have thought about.

Twitter is the Ultimate Tease… Does Your Content Tease? – Mitch Joel
One of the things I struggle with is creating good headlines. It’s why I read copywriter’s blogs. In this post, Mitch explains how to create good titles that are bold, provocative, relevant and tease. We’re all busy and looking for quick fixes, that’s why Chris’ post above is so valuable, and with that title you know exactly what you’re getting.

Nine Little Known Traits of Successful Bloggers – Sonia Simone (Copyblogger)
This is a very interesting post that looks into some of traits of successful bloggers that might surprise you. What follows is how being angry, negative or stupid (in the right ways of course) can create breakthrough success on your blog.

Adapting to Change on the Reef – Jeremiah Owyang (Web-Strategist)
Jeremiah provides some valuable advice to companies and people being adversely affected by the current economic conditions. Do companies need to cut off part of their body to stay afloat in the years to come. In addition to a great and relevant quote from Darwin, Jeremiah also offers up some valuable reads with respect to the economy and it’s impact on social media.

The Rapid Growth (And Destruction) and Growth of the Marketing – Seth Godin
On the surface this post was promoting Seth’s new book Tribes, but take a closer look and he’s explaining why mass marketing and yelling at your audience doesn’t work, and how social media reveals a basic human need that we want to be connected, to make a difference and to matter.

Do You Have 16 Boxes? – Seth Godin
This is a must-read if you’re concerned about the health of your personal brand, job, or company during the current economic recession. If one thing is out of sync, don’t let it cause panic, build up the other aspects of your business so that when we come out of this thing, you’re suddenly ahead of the game (and your competitors).

Recommended Web Strategy Reading – Jermiah Owyang (Web Strategist)
Jeremiah graciously assembled some of his best, most visisted, and most commented posts and linked to them all in one blog post. There are some really great and applicable (especially for business) reads about social media in this list. Take the time to read a couple, or bookmark them for future reference.

Would You Like a Job as an Online Community Manager? – Marshal Kirkpatrick
This post covers everything from how to know if your company needs a community manager, what a community managers is, how to prove dissenters wrong, what a community managers does, whether or not it’s worthwhile for a founder/CEO to assume the community manger position, is worth paying for and more.

In Defense of Raising Money: A Manifesto for Non-Profit CEOs – Sasha Dichter
Sasha is sick and tired of apologizing for being in charge of raising money. This is his manifesto. This is a must-read if you work in a non-profit industry. It really is brilliant.

We’re All in Customer Service – Valeria Maltoni (Conversation Agent)
This is something I’ve learned within the last year or so as I’ve developed my online business, but there are countless others that don’t realize yet. Valeria explores how technology and the social web allows us to communicate and collaborate more effectively and across a wide variety of mediums. As communicators, marketers, and leaders we’re all in customer service.

How to Use Social Media to Improve Organizational Performance – Chris Ferdinandi (Manager’s Sandbox)
Chris provides a very thorough look into ways in which we can use various types of social media tools to benefit us in the workplace. He discusses how to use social media effectively and mentions some free (and reasonably priced) social media tools worth checking out.

Job Search is to _____ as Career Management is to ____ : Follow Up – Jason Alba (JibberJabber)
A very short, very fun post from Jason on some great analogies for job search and career management. He also provides some of the funniest responses he got from his readers doing the same exercise. Keep in mind that both the job search and career management are important, just that they are different.

No, but seriously, don’t leave this blog post without doing one of the following:
a.) Telling me which of these posts you found most valuable and/or your favorite read.
b.) Telling me what you wrote that you were most proud of in October.
c.) Connecting with me on Twitter or LinkedIn
d.) Finally, if you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to receive future updates.

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL MY READERS FOR THEIR KINDNESS AND SUPPORT!

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